5 things: No more free lunch at Twitter HQ

In this edition of 5 Things, Food Management highlights five things you may have missed recently about developments affecting onsite dining.

Here’s your list for today:

New Twitter owner Elon Musk said he will scrap the free meals served at the company’s headquarters in San Francisco as the amenity had become unsustainable because “almost no one came to the office” and was costing the company around $400 per worker or about $13 million a year. “There are more people preparing breakfast than eating breakfast,” he said. “They don’t even bother serving dinner, because there is no one in the building.”

Read more: Musk plans to end free lunch at Twitter HQ, claims meals cost $13M a year

The USDA is offering $50 million in grant funding to food industry companies that help make school lunch more nutritious and tastier as the second phase of its $100 million healthy meals initiative, which is aimed at boosting access to nutritious food for students. "The grants will support schools’ ability to access a wider variety of healthy, appealing products and promote innovation by food producers and suppliers, including local producers and small and disadvantaged businesses," USDA said. Grantees can be food producers, suppliers and distributors, as well as school districts and other groups that can "support schools’ ability to access a wider variety of healthy, appealing products and promote innovation by food producers and suppliers."

Related:5 things: Sodexo to move North American HQ to new facility in 2024

Read more: USDA hopes $50M can make school lunch more ‘appetizing,’ ‘appealing’

A study by a research team at the University of Maine used the EPA’s Food Recovery Hierarchy framework to look at how hospitals in Maine process food waste and found several potential areas of improvement in the food preparation systems. For instance, they found that six of the seven surveyed hospitals did not compost food waste due to barriers like cost, procedural considerations and the challenge of hiring the right personnel, and they also rejected “ugly” vegetables, when they could accept imperfect produce to use in meals like soups and sauces that would reduce waste and create cost savings. Also, while food donations were recognized as a viable way to reduce waste, they were said to be not widely practiced because of legal concerns despite the protections offered through laws like the Bill Emerson Good Samaritan Food Donation Act, which protects nonprofits from liability when donating except for in cases of gross negligence.

Related:5 tech things: 24/7 robotic “burger chef in a box" opens first campus location

Read more: Maine hospitals can do more to reduce food waste with the right support, UMaine study finds

Healthier plant-based dietary patterns were associated with better environmental health, while less healthy plant-based dietary patterns, which are higher in foods like refined grains and sugar-sweetened beverages, required more cropland and fertilizer, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “The differences between plant-based diets was surprising because they’re often portrayed as universally healthy and good for the environment, but it’s more nuanced than that,” said Aviva Musicus, postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard Chan School and corresponding author of the study. “To be clear, we’re not asserting that less healthy plant-based diets are worse for the environment than animal-based diets. However, our findings show that plant-based diets can have different health and environmental impacts.”

Read more: Healthy plant-based diets better for the environment than less healthy plant-based diets

International student enrollment in U.S. universities bounced back last year after a steep pandemic-fueled decline, according to a new “Open Doors” report from the Institute of International Education. The total number of international students in the U.S. increased by 4% in the 2021–22 academic year and an additional 9% this fall, following a 15% drop in 2020–21.

Read more: International Enrollment Rebounds

Bonus: Food hall a highlight of new Auburn Culinary Science Center

Contact Mike Buzalka at [email protected]